


you're the only friend i need (but that will never be enough)

by AspenRoman



Series: tyzula one shots [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Flirting, Azula asks Ty Lee on a date but she doesn't realize it's a date and they're so awkward my babies, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbian Azula (Avatar), Meet-Cute, Romance, Tyzula Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26620648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AspenRoman/pseuds/AspenRoman
Summary: azula moves into her apartment and doesn't expect her neighbor to be so obnoxiously loud all the time. that is, until one day it completely stops and azula misses the chaos ty lee brings and goes to seek her out.ora ‘your apartment is next to mine and i can hear you and your partner dancing and singing and the bed moving and you two laughing and talking in hushed tones and it won’t let me sleep so i bitch about it to you and one day it stops and one day turns to one week and then months and i haven’t seen you smile in forever please let me in, i’ve been knocking for ten minutes’ au
Relationships: Azula & Ty Lee (Avatar), Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: tyzula one shots [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937983
Comments: 14
Kudos: 159





	you're the only friend i need (but that will never be enough)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dreamersball](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamersball/gifts).



> this is completely only bc dreamers was like "more tyzula and lorde" and also i happened to stumble upon some prompts. enjoy this little one-shot set to "ribs" by lorde and it is 12am and i've only edited once but here haha

_This is such a stupid idea,_ Azula thinks as she paces outside of her neighbor's door, refusing to knock on it.

See, the thing was that when Azula moved to Republic City she wasn't going to deal with sharing a dorm room with some rando, so she opted to live in the apartments instead. What she hadn't thought of was that she would share a wall with an obnoxiously pretty girl who sang too loud (and off-key) in the shower and whose boyfriend was over _every. single. day._ By now, Azula is surprised she hasn't burned the entire complex down, she's heard too many moans, mostly male, and she has never once wanted to hear that. Occasionally, she talks to the girl (whose name she knows is Ty Lee thanks to her loud boyfriend) but only in passing. Most of the time, Azula doesn't leave her apartment except to get groceries or go to the gym. While her brother is always trying to get her to "make friends" or "go outside", she prefers being where no one can bother her, save for her neighbor.

Now, Ty Lee and her boyfriend had been inseparable for months when Azula moved in. Azula had spent many times fantasizing about yelling at her annoying neighbor, but Zuko told her apparently that's "rude", so she had refrained from it, well that is until one night. One night, Azula had been preparing for her mid-term in Engineering when she heard the girlish squeal of Ty Lee and the opening of her neighbor's door as her boyfriend arrived. At first, she had tried to be nice and ignore it, but when she heard the trap music start to blare, Azula knew what they were about to do and stormed outside. Without hesitation, she slammed her fist against her neighbor's door and the music abruptly stopped.

Then, the door opened a sliver and the braided-head of Ty Lee popped out, "Hi! What's up?"

She had a good smile, Azula had to admit, but she was _so loud_ that it outweighed any of her other thoughts, "Can you guys just shut up for one night? I literally hear you every single night and I have a mid-term tomorrow."

"You can hear us?" Ty Lee's face morphed into a comical expression of shock.

"I live right there," Azula pointed to her door, "and I hear every. single. thing so can you just be quiet for one night? Some of us actually care about school."

Azula made her exit there and headed back into her apartment but not before hearing Ty Lee's boyfriend call her a bitch. She clenched her fist but didn't do anything until she's safely in her apartment. There, she paced back and forth in her kitchen as feelings swirled inside of her. She had never been particularly good at sorting out her feelings, at least that's what her therapist told her, but she knew that she's feeling anger and it's easy to just focus on that. So, she shoved her face in a pillow and screamed until her throat feels hoarse because _how dare that stupid peasant talk to me like that, did he not know who I am? I'm-_

Azula took a deep breath and removed her face from the pillow. At least her therapist would be proud of her for being healthy, instead of arson or running until her legs gave out. That night, there was almost no noise from Ty Lee's apartment, save for the occasional laugh, and Azula was able to study. She got a 103 on the exam, of course. But the nights after, Ty Lee and her boyfriend seemed to only be louder and louder. One night it culminated in a giant screaming match and Azula awkwardly sat on her side of the wall trying to watch Food Network. She never heard Ty Lee's boyfriend again.

For the first few months of school, Azula had always run into Ty Lee as they did laundry on the same day or when they would pass each other in the hall, but Azula scarcely saw the brown-haired girl. It was even stranger because before, Ty Lee would send her a smile even though they didn't know each other. Nowadays, she just seems exhausted and doesn't even smile at Azula in the halls.

Which leads to the present, where Azula paces back and forth of Ty Lee's door. Zuko was still on her case about making friends. To be fair, Azula had Mai, Zuko's new girlfriend, as someone who she texted every now and then and she considered Katara from her English GenEd somewhat of an acquaintance. But maybe Zuko had a point, because Azula kept achieving things but she had no one to share it with and when Katara talked about her girlfriend and her friends, Azula couldn't help the ugly jealousy in her stomach. She had never really had friends growing up, so college seemed the perfect time as any.

Besides, Ty Lee already somewhat knew her (although their encounter consisted of Azula yelling at her) but she might as well try. Taking a deep breath, Azula turns to the door and raps her knuckles against it. She hears the padding of feet and the turn of a lock as the door slowly opens. Ty Lee's head pokes out again, this time with bags underneath her eyes and her lips pressed together.

"You don't look great," Azula blurts out and Ty Lee raises her eyebrows at her, "sorry! I didn't mean it like that, you look great always, but-, well first I wanted to apologize because I was rude a while ago. And then I haven't really heard anything from you in a while, not that I was like listening or anything creepy, and you used to smile at me in the halls and now you don't even do that and I know we're not really friends but, what I'm trying to say is do you want to get dinner or something? I heard the yelling a while back and I don't really know you, but you don't seem like yourself."

Ty Lee smiles, albeit it's small, for the first time in months at her, "You're asking me to dinner?"

"Yeah, we can go out someplace or I can cook, it's up to you," Azula offers.

"Tomorrow at 7?" Ty Lee asks and Azula nods and moves to go back into her apartment, "and what's your name?"

"Oh! I'm Azula," Azula says and Ty Lee smiles again.

Ty Lee waves as Azula heads back into the apartment and locks the door behind her. _Shit, now I have to make dinner, what if she's allergic to something?_ Azula panics and puts her head in her hands. On the other side of the wall, she hears Ty Lee squeal and for the life of her, Azula doesn't know why.

* * *

At 7pm promptly, Azula answers the door to Ty Lee with her signature braid and an all-pink outfit. She doesn't know anyone who could pull over that monochrome outfit, but Ty Lee manages to and Azula feels her stomach twist. _She's only looking for friends, Azula, chill_ she tells herself as Ty Lee enters the apartment. Azula's apartment is bare of real attachments and only has necessities. There are gold and red accents everywhere but most of the furniture is black. Ty Lee appraises it and Azula waits for to say something.

"Your apartment is so cute," Ty Lee coos and Azula lets herself smile.

"Thanks, I'm not much of a designer so I stick to the basics," Azula says.

"I'm an interior design major," Ty Lee tells her, "well at first I was fashion but then I changed. So let me know if you ever want any help."

"I will," Azula says.

Ty Lee walks over to her and places her hand on Azula's arm, "Thanks for making dinner, I literally don't cook ever. What is it?"

Azula feels like her skin is on fire as she leads Ty Lee over to her kitchen, her favorite place in the entire apartment. On the countertop is a bowl of ground beef mixed with other ingredients and beside it are wonton wrappers and an eggwash. Ty Lee glances back up at Azula then down to the ingredients.

"Well, I was thinking of making dumplings but if you're, like, allergic to meat or something-" Azula starts.

Ty Lee cuts her off, "No, no it's perfect. I don't know what to do, maybe you can teach me?"

Azula sees something twinkle in Ty Lee's eyes as the girl grabs her by the hand and pulls her to the table. From the way Ty Lee grabbed her hand, Azula is sure she can feel her pulse and by the toothy smile on Ty Lee's face, her guess is correct. With one hand, Azula divides the ingredients up and gives them both a pile of wonton wrappers. She pulls her hand out of Ty Lee's and shows her the right amount of filling to put in the dumpling and then how to twist off the top. Ty Lee tries her first one and brandishes a misshaped lump that doesn't close right.

"What do you think?" Ty Lee asks.

Azula opens and closes her mouth, "It's something."

"You're such a jerk," Ty Lee giggles and Azula doesn't exactly what she said that was so funny, but at least she got Ty Lee to laugh.

They spend the next few minutes making dumplings and trading barbs before they get through all of the dough. The stovetop has a steamer on it already and all Azula does is put the dumplings on each layer and then set a timer. Leaning against the counter, Azula watches the dumplings and Ty Lee comes to stand by her.

"Where'd you learn how to do that?" Ty Lee asks.

"My mother," is all Azula says, "before she died. Then my uncle taught us."

"Oh my god, I didn't know I'm so sorry I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject," Ty Lee hurries.

Azula waves the concern off, "It's okay, it happened a long time ago."

"If it makes you feel any better, my parents and I don't really get along," Ty Lee stretches her arms above her head, "too many kids, not enough parents. They were always kind of distant since I was one of the middle children and I sort of blended into the background for them."

"Really? I wouldn't have thought that. You seem very exuberant and outgoing, life of the party type energy. I'm surprised you were ever a wallflower," Azula tells her.

"A what?" 

"Wallflower, someone who sits and observes like the wallpaper," Azula explains plainly, but not at all in a condescending manner. 

"Oh, you learn something new everyday. What are you studying?" 

"Engineering."

"Of course."

Azula raises her eyebrows and Ty Lee giggles, a type of laugh where she throws her head back and exposes the nape of her neck, and Azula thinks she is so, so beautiful. Today, her eyebags are covered by makeup but Azula knows they're still present. She wonders what's keeping her up at night and decides to ask.

"If I may, are you alright?" Azula says as gently as she can, "I just don't hear that loud trap music anymore."

Ty Lee smiles, but it's more reserved, "My boyfriend and I broke up a few weeks ago, we were together for long time and he cheated on me."

Azula's eyebrows scrunch, "What the actual fuck? That's awful. God, what an asshole."

"You seem almost angrier than I was," Ty Lee jokes.

"How could someone do that to anyone, let alone someone like you?"

"What do you mean, someone like me?"

"You're the sun personified. And I just don't get how someone could have the sun and wish for darkness."

Ty Lee gives her a toothy smile, "You're sweet, Azula."

"I'm being honest," Azula tells her, "what an asshole. He didn't deserve you anyway."

Without warning, Ty Lee leans forward and kisses her cheek and Azula's face goes scarlet. Again, Ty Lee giggles at her and Azula hates being laughed at but she supposes she can make an exception to get Ty Lee out of whatever funk she's in. Moments later, the timer dings and Azula carefully removes the dumplings from the steamer and puts them all on a plate. She gets them both a glass of water and forks and they start to eat, their shoulders brushing as they stand by each other.

"This is really good," Ty Lee tells her after she finishes chewing and swallowing.

"Well, you helped," is all Azula can think to say.

"I folded dough into ugly shapes," Ty Lee jokes and pokes an ugly dumpling.

At her words, Azula can't help but laugh and Ty Lee looks over to her, "You have a really cute laugh, Zula."

"Nickname basis, are we friends then?" Azula asks and hopes it comes out as a joke in case she's turned down.

"Maybe, maybe not," Ty Lee says.

"Did I do something wrong?" Azula asks.

Ty Lee shakes her rapidly, "No, no."

"Well, then why can't we be friends?"

"I don't usually want to kiss my friends."

"What? Oh. _Oh_."

"You were the one who asked me to dinner."

Azula rubs the back of her neck and sets her fork down, "I just saw you and you looked so sad and I don't know, I had never seen you sad before. I just wanted to try and cheer you up."

"So you don't have feelings for me?" Ty Lee says slowly and puts her fork down too.

"No, I mean, I do but I didn't want to say anything because you just broke up with your boyfriend-" Azula gets cut off as Ty Lee laces her fingers with hers and laughs.

"And you thought saying 'I can make you dinner' is extremely platonic," Ty Lee teases.

Azula doesn't get the joke, "Is it not?"

"You're such a dork," Ty Lee murmurs, "good thing I happen to have a thing for dorks."

And then Ty Lee presses up on her toes to kiss Azula. The taller girl freezes for a second, before she puts her free hand on the back of Ty Lee's neck and returns the kiss. It's simple at first before Ty Lee smiles against her lips and Azula slips her tongue into her mouth. Ty Lee's eyes snap open at that and her cheeks redden, but keeps kissing her. Only a few more minutes pass before Ty Lee pulls away.

"Was that okay?" Azula says as Ty Lee says, "Where did you learn how to do that?"

"Was that okay?" Azula repeats and Ty Lee makes a noise in the back of her throat.

"Was that okay?" Ty Lee scoffs, "You were a better kisser than anyone I've ever kissed."

"That's probably why he was always so much louder than you," Azula comments and Ty Lee squeals.

"You heard that? Oh my god," Ty Lee groans.

Azula smirks, "You mean I heard him. You always seemed to be awfully quiet."

Ty Lee's face is as red as a tomato now, "Where is this coming from?"

"Is it too much?" the teasing tone from Azula disappears.

"No, no, you're good, Zula," Ty Lee can't help smiling.

"Oh, okay," Azula hesitantly smiles at her.

"You're going to have to teach me how to cook, okay? On the next date," Ty Lee tells her.

Azula pretends to think, "I suppose I can do that."

Ty Lee hits her on the arm, "I know where you live, I'll hunt you down."

Azula rolls her eyes at her and Ty Lee giggles. Her laughter is contagious and Azula can't help but laugh along and it feels good. Ty Lee seems happy and Azula feels her chest swell with adoration. It feels like something new, like the start of them, and Azula has never been more thankful for those thin apartment walls.


End file.
